The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book) - 326

 

| TBBOTOF | 326

Tang Xu always had something to do.

Every year, he would get busy. After all, he and Wei Dong’s businesses were scattered, with small transactions here and there. Although they had saved up some money, no matter how much it was, he still needed to know how much he earned.

He was the only one handling this matter, and as long as the money earned was saved, there was no problem. If it was gone, they would just earn more. 

Watching Tang Xu writing and calculating all the time, he...

This is what he thought, but Wei Dong wouldn’t say such things in front of Tang Xu, because this kind of thing was quite troublesome.

Why was it troublesome?

Even though Tang Xu had been living in this world for a while, he still wasn’t comfortable with traditional Chinese characters. Especially when looking at the various receipts written in traditional characters, his head would buzz.

Tang Xu had to convert the characters into numbers, then calculate the income and expenses, which was truly troublesome for him.

However, it was a task he had to sort out himself. Even if he was in a bad mood, there was no reason to vent his frustration on others.

Over the past few days, he dedicated himself to bookkeeping and even pulled Tang Li over to teach her how to do it. 

After all, once spring came, Tang Li and Liu Yao would go to Yongcheng with Wei Dong. By then, if a store was opened over there, they would need to keep accounts. Otherwise, if too much time passed, the accounts would get messy.

“Brother, I can’t do this,” Tang Li said nervously. She didn’t even recognize the characters, so how could she possibly learn bookkeeping?

Tang Xu waved his hand, showing her the numerical account he had written, which was filled with all kinds of numbers and decimal points. 

Then, he handed her a written ledger he had copied bit by bit and pointed at the two, saying, “These two are the same. You can learn by comparing them.”

Tang Li nervously glanced back and forth between the two ledgers but was still confused.

Tang Xu knew it wasn’t something that could be learned just by looking, so starting from that day, the siblings dedicated two hours daily to learning and teaching. Beginning with the basics of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, Tang Li gradually picked up some techniques over time.

“Brother, you’re so smart! You even thought of this!” Tang Li said while holding a charcoal pencil and practicing writing numbers on paper.

Tang Xu scratched his face, thinking to himself, This wasn’t my idea. I’m not that clever.

During Tang Li’s study sessions, Liu Yao also curiously came by to observe once.

The result was that he got a headache from all the strings of numbers and simply waved his hand, saying he didn’t have the aptitude for it and that cooking suited him better.

Tang Xu didn’t force him. Even the elders and children at home came by to take a look. The old man commented that the method seemed simple, but it wasn’t of much use to them. 

The children, on the other hand, found it interesting. Some of them even learned quite well.

The little ones followed Tang Xu in learning numbers up to ten. Xiao Bao could focus and sit still, and his writing was neat and tidy. 

Er Bao, on the other hand, couldn’t sit still, and when he did write, the characters were large and uneven. However, Tang Xu didn’t push them too hard.

“Xiao Bao learning some basics is good. In the future, when he marries and manages a household, these skills will come in handy,” Old Wu said as he sat by the small table, drinking the warmed wine Tang Xu prepared for him and eating some mixed dishes, his beard curling slightly upward.

Old Wen and Old Sun sat in similar positions, enjoying the change from afternoon tea to afternoon wine. The three old men were thoroughly satisfied with this arrangement.

The main reason was that Tang Xu usually strictly controlled their alcohol consumption, making it quite difficult for the three old men to have even a small drink.

Today, however, Wei Zhonghong had sent over some freshly cooked five-spice peanuts, still warm. Thinking about how long it had been since the elders had enjoyed a drink, Tang Xu prepared some side dishes to pair with the wine and let the three of them indulge a little.

“This is why Xu Ge’er is different from the other young gers,” Old Wen said as he picked up a peanut. 

Despite his advanced age, his hand was steady. “Look at how clever he is. If he’d been born into a wealthy family, he’d be remarkable.”

After offering his praise, he popped the peanut into his mouth, took a sip of sorghum wine from his small cup, and squinted his eyes.

It was spicy.

“This batch of wine tastes better than the last one,” Old Sun smacked his lips, very pleased with the rich flavor of the wine.

“Didn’t your nephew send you a letter last time asking you if you wanted to buy some wine?” Old Wu pointed a finger at Old Sun. “Why didn’t you mention it to Xu Ge’er?”

Old Sun waved his hand dismissively. “They’re all sitting there calculating their little schemes, clattering away, but I haven’t seen a single one come to check on this old man. Sure, the letter sounded affectionate enough, but what’s the use of that?” 

His tone was full of disappointment. It had been nearly two full years since he’d come to this place from the capital, and aside from that one letter, there hadn’t been any other signs of concern from his relatives.

The more Old Sun thought about it, the angrier he got. He coldly remarked, “All of them think to themselves as cultured gentlemen, but I think they’re not even as respectful as the rural farmers.”

Old Wen raised an eyebrow and exchanged a look with Old Wu, both realizing that Old Sun’s relatives must have written something else in the letter.

If it were just about asking for help with buying the alcohol, it wouldn’t have been enough to anger the old man like this.

However, that was someone else’s family matter, so neither of them asked further.

Who didn’t have a useless relative?

Tang Xu, unaware of the elder’s thoughts in the main hall, was focused on his calculations. The more he calculated, the brighter his eyes became. 

The total amount of money he had earned was quite substantial. Although there were significant expenses, he had still saved a fair amount.

His eyes curved in contentment, clearly in a good mood.

“Brother,” Tang Li called out to him, handing him a sheet of paper, “Can you check if I wrote this correctly?”

Tang Xu snapped out of his cheerful thoughts, took the paper, and looked it over.

After doing some calculations, he nodded and said, “It’s all correct. Take your time with the calculations, as long as there are no mistakes. This is how you should write it when you keep the accounts in the future.”

“Okay!” Tang Li nodded happily. “Once Father and the others come back, I’ll teach our cousin how to keep accounts too.”

Tang Xu asked, “How did you keep accounts at the shop before?” 

The braised food shop always gave him his share of the profits after they come back. He hadn’t really calculated how much it was, but whatever his father gave him, he took.

 After all, he knew his father wouldn’t cheat him.

“Every night after we close the shop, we count the money. After sorting it out, we separate the remaining funds into portions and store them in small boxes. When they return, we use official silver to exchange the copper coins and small silver pieces for whole ones.”

Tang Xu blinked and took a deep breath.

This was really quite troublesome.

“But Auntie thinks it’s better to divide the silver every day. That way, we can always get cash on hand, and seeing all that money makes us more motivated to work,” Tang Li said as she gathered up the charcoal pencil and paper. “Brother, I’ll make dinner. Let’s have steamed buns tonight. I’ll fry some oil cakes.”

“Alright.” Tang Xu nodded and also gathered up the accounts by his side. “Let’s stir-fry some vegetables and eat them with rice porridge.”

The siblings chatted as they left the room, one ahead of the other. They saw Wei Dong in the yard sweeping snow. Tang Xu asked, “Where are the kids?”

“They went to play at Auntie’s. I’ll go pick them up later,” Wei Dong replied, holding a large broom made of bamboo. 

It seemed like he had been sweeping the snow for a while because, probably due to the cold, he had removed his thin outer coat and was wearing only his inner clothing.

Tang Xu frowned as he saw this. “Don’t catch a cold. I’ll make you a bowl of ginger syrup to drink.”

Wei Dong agreed with a grunt and took the thin coat that had been set aside, putting it back on. 

He even patted his chest Tang Xu. “I’ve put it on.”

Tang Xu shot him a glare before turning and heading into the kitchen.

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